No Freeze for the Data Centre

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Burlington is rolling out Heritage Week, eight days of free events celebrating the city's past, from waterfront walks to trivia nights. The lineup runs August 1-8 and includes talks, tours, art exhibitions, hikes, and more.

The week opens with a ceremony at LaSalle Park Pavilion on Saturday, August 1 at 10 a.m., featuring music and light refreshments. Right after, historian Alan Harrington leads a waterfront walk through the park, sharing stories of explorer René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle.

Other highlights include a trivia night at Burlington Performing Arts Centre on August 5, a talk by McMaster professor Rick Monture on Joseph Brant's legacy on the 6th, and Doors Open Burlington citywide on August 8, a historical tour around Burlington followed by a beach clean-up.

Events are free, but some require advance registration by the end of the month due to limited capacity, so sign up while you can!

After a nine-hour meeting packed with residents, Burlington council decided not to chase a freeze on the data centre proposed for the old Tucker's Marketplace site on South Service Road.

Quick catch-up: the two-storey facility is going through staff-level site plan approval, so it can be built without a council vote, because Burlington's rulebook doesn't mention data centres at all. Ward 2 councillor Lisa Kearns had pushed for a one-year pause to give the city time to write proper guidelines first.

Council turned down that pause in a 3-2 vote, though it isn't fully off the table. What did pass: staff will start drafting rules for future data centres, and the city will formally ask the province and Ottawa for a national framework on AI. Both look ahead to the next proposal, not this one, which keeps moving.

Much of the night went to calming nerves. The company behind it, Gliese AI, told council the 17-megawatt building is a rental space for local businesses to store data, not a ChatGPT-style operation, which would need far more power. A Waterloo computer science professor said the noise, vibration and pollution fears are overblown at this size, and that Ontario already makes big data centres (over 50 MW) hard to build.

Not everyone left reassured. Residents have launched an anti-data centre website to track it, and the real decision now lands in December, after October's election.

Burlington is starting renewal work around the cherry trees in Spencer Smith Park's northeast corner, with nine invasive trees coming out this fall. The Norway maples, mulberries, and Tree of Heaven species are scheduled for removal between September and November.

No cherry trees are being removed this year. The original cherry trees were donated in 1997 by Kan and Toshiko Nakazawa of Burlington's twin city Itabashi, Japan, and have become a popular draw during their late April and early May bloom.

About 26 cherry trees remain after earlier removals of declining ones. Future phases will replace aging trees and extend the walkway with new plantings, keeping the Sakura tradition going for decades to come.

👷‍♀️ Local Logistics Company Expansion Could Create 50 New Jobs

A pair of Burlington swimmers are competing for Canada at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland this week.

Ella Jansen and Katie Cosgriffe are both part of Team Canada's swimming roster, following strong showings at recent international competitions. Cosgriffe earned bronze at the 2025 Paralympic Games in the 100m butterfly and silver at the 2024 World Para Swimming Championships. Jansen placed fourth in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay at the 2024 Olympics and picked up bronze at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships.

The Games started yesterday and run through August 2 in Glasgow. Swimming and Para Swimming run from today until Sunday, you can cheer on Ella and Katie while they represent Burlington on the free steaming site from CBC.

Burlington families can bring lightly used books, toys, and clothing to a free community swap event this Sunday, July 26, from 2 to 5pm at the Anglican Church of the Incarnation on Old Abbey Lane in Oakville.

Local high school student Ryan Wu is organizing the swap as a way to declutter homes, reduce waste, and give used items a new life with someone else. Residents can exchange items they no longer need for new treasures without spending any money.

Wu is asking that items be clean, gently used, and in good condition. Anyone planning to bring a lot of stuff can reserve a free table online, and volunteers are welcome to help with setup and activities during the event.

Friday, July 24
☀️ Sunny
High: 25°C | Low: 19°C

Saturday, July 25
☁️ Overcast
High: 26°C | Low: 19°C

Sunday, July 26
🌦️ Light drizzle
High: 27°C | Low: 19°C

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~ Nick